


Boku no Ataru Michi

by tsuristyle



Category: SMAP
Genre: ATARU - Freeform, Boku no Aruku Michi, Gen, adorable autists solve mysteries!, and eat hot dogs
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-30
Updated: 2016-12-30
Packaged: 2018-09-13 10:22:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,175
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9119482
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tsuristyle/pseuds/tsuristyle
Summary: Chokozai interrupted whatever train of thought this might have triggered by smothering his own hot dog in ketchup and mustard until it was hard to tell what the point of adding the lettuce had been. He set the bottles aside, picking up the monstrosity with a satisfied air. "This is a hot dog."Teru looked slowly from his own hot dog to the condiment bottles to the sticky mess Chokozai was taking a bite from, and then back to his own hot dog. He appeared to come to a conclusion, and reached for the ketchup.Ebina and Sawa turned away from the carnage, leaning their heads together. "We've got two of them now. What do we do?"(An ATARU/Boku no Aruku Michi crossover, mostly silly with a side dish of mystery. Written August 2015.)





	

"Please give me curry soup."  
  
"You will eat chicken curry."  
  
"Please give me curry soup."  
  
"You will eat chicken curry."  
  
"Please give me curry soup."  
  
"You will eat chicken curry. So _there_!" Ebina shoved the bento in front of Chokozai emphatically, waiting with baited breath.  
  
Chokozai looked down at the chicken curry, regarding it with one eye, then the other. "...Please give me curry soup."  
  
Ebina groaned and sank facefirst down on her desk. After her brief stint as a private detective, she'd rejoined the police force (under the condition that there was no damn pinup girl work, thank you very much), and had gone right back into poking her nose into suspicious cases with surprisingly little fuss. She suspected this had less to do with her own (perfectly good) merits and more to do with the fact that Chokozai seemed to have latched onto her as if she was Larry 2.0, following her around like a personal clue detector that occasionally demanded hot dogs and dramas about synchronized swimming detectives. And curry soup, tons and tons of goddamn curry soup.  
  
With a sigh of resignation, Ebina lifted her head and grabbed the instant curry udon she'd prepared as backup.  
  
"No luck, huh?" Sawa leaned over Chokozai to steal a bite of the chicken curry. "I thought the three-times thing was absolute. Maybe he just doesn't like chicken curry?"  
  
" _Everyone_ likes chicken curry," Ebina declared, thumping the de-noodled soup down in front of Chokozai. "He just needs to be convinced it's worth trying, that's all."  
  
"This is curry soup," Chokozai chirped, lifting the bowl up with both hands.  
  
"Good luck with that, even most _normal_ people are pretty allergic to changing their ways." Sawa fiddled with his highly-styled hair, watching Ebina finish off the udon noodles. "Not without a great deal of incentive, anyway."  
  
Ebina raised her chopsticks as if about to argue when a middle-aged man in a delivery outfit hurried into the office. "Delivery for Ebina Maiko," he announced, holding out an envelope.   
  
"Oh! Thanks." Ebina took the envelope, glancing up at the deliveryman. The man gave her an oddly sorrowful look, and left as quickly as he'd come.  
  
Ebina tore open the envelope, pulling out a folded letter. "Please don't take this personally, but I thought you should know that I will be attacking certain locations in the following list. I will make my first attack as soon as you have received this l--"  
  
Sawa pulled Ebina down as the far wall suddenly exploded inward. Bits of plaster and debris sailed over their heads as they ducked behind the desks. Chokozai continued to drink his soup, miraculously shielded by the ancient computer on Ebina's desk. A moment later, fellow officers stumbled in from the hallway, coughing and waving dust clouds away. "Sawa! Ebina! You guys alright?"  
  
Ebina jumped up, still clutching the letter. "The deliveryman! We've got to go after him!"   
  
Sawa pulled himself up by the desk, shaking his head as if to clear it. "The deliveryman? What? What's going on?"  
  
"That was his first attack! He's going to go after someplace on this list next!" Ebina waved the letter urgently, jabbing a finger at the list written there. The police station was indeed written at the very top. "We've got to stop him!"  
  
Chokozai drank the last of his curry soup, and set the empty udon bowl down on the desk with an air of satisfaction. " _Mission accepted_."  
  
  
"So," Sawa said, trotting after Ebina as she led Chokozai down the street. "We're going to disregard headquarters and solve this on our own _why_?"  
  
Ebina pulled a hair tie off her wrist, binding her hair back with fierce determination. "Because that's how we do things. And anyway, didn't you see the look on the deliveryman's face? He doesn't really want to do this, I'm sure of it."  
  
"He just tried to _kill_ us," Sawa pointed out, but Ebina had already dug out her little black notebook and was examining the list she'd copied down before the letter had been confiscated.  
  
"We'll start with the next location on the list. To the right!" She jabbed her finger forward like a marching band leader as they reached the corner. Chokozai went left.  
  
"Chokozai! Come back here!" They chased after him as he sped down the street, in pursuit of whatever conclusion his brain had suddenly leapt to. "At least give us one of your cryptic hints first!"  
  
They caught up just as Chokozai rounded another corner-- and collided with a man about to mail a postcard, all four of them ending up in a sprawl on the sidewalk. The postcard went flying into the street.  
  
"Oof," Ebina groaned, sitting up. "Are you alright, sir? We didn't mean to--"  
  
The man stood, tugging at his yellow vest and blinking dazedly. He looked down at his hands. "Miyako-chan," he said, and caught sight of the fallen postcard. "I have to send a letter to Miyako-chan." He took a step towards the edge of the sidewalk, and stopped. "It's not safe to walk in the street."  
  
"Huh?" Sawa stood, dusting his suit off fastidiously. "It's right there." The postcard was only a couple feet from the curb.  
  
"It's not safe to walk in the street," the man repeated. He fidgeted with the hem of his vest, staring at the postcard. "I have to send a letter to Miyako-chan."  
  
"Sir?" Ebina waved a hand in front of the man's face, glancing over at Sawa. "Think he hit his head or something?"  
  
"Maybe we should take him to the hospital--" Sawa looked down. "Hey, what's with _him_?"  
  
Chokozai lay still on the sidewalk, seeming to watch the man from the corner of one eye. It was like when he was about to find some clue, pulling tiny pieces together from the air itself.   
  
"I have to send-- a letter to Miyako-chan--" The man edged a tiny bit closer to the road, then stepped back. His fingers started to tremble.  
  
" _Update shimashita_." Chokozai clambered up, clutching the strap of his bag, and shuffled off the sidewalk into the road. He crouched next to the fallen postcard, tapping his closed hand against his cheek. "Miyako-chan," he read, and stopped tapping. Very carefully, he picked up the postcard and held it with both hands, standing and turning on the spot until he faced the man. Still looking down at the postcard, he shuffled forward until his head bumped into the man's chest, and reached down to tug at the man's wrist.  
  
The man blinked slowly, fingers closing around the postcard. He looked down at it as if mystified how it had gotten there, and immediately turned to the mailbox, carefully slipping the postcard into the slot. Then, looking immensely satisfied with himself, he climbed onto his bike and slowly pedaled away.  
  
"What's with _that_? He didn't even say thank you!" Ebina crossed her arms, disgruntled.  
  
Sawa looked between Chokozai and the departing man's back. Chokozai was watching the man from the corner of his eye again. "Hey, you don't think he was, y'know..."  
  
Chokozai raised one hand next to his ear, fingers moving in that odd flicking motion he did when wheels were turning in his head. Then, as if a switch had been flicked in his brain, he turned and followed after the man at high speed.   
  
  
"That does it," Ebina panted, leaning against the wall of the building they'd stopped at. It appeared to be the entrance to a small zoo. "I'm getting that man a _leash_."  
  
"I think," Sawa bent over, hands on his knees. "I agree. Maybe we can get Larry-san to train him to wear it?"  
  
The man on the bike dismounted as a woman in grey workclothes approached the entrance. "Miyako-chan. Good morning," he said, lifting his eyes to look directly at her. "I sent you a letter."  
  
Miyako smiled warmly in return. "Good morning, Teru. I'm waiting for it." She glanced behind him. "Did you bring a friend?"  
  
Chokozai had shuffled up behind Teru, and appeared to be shifting from foot to foot agitatedly. "Zoological park," he said in English, clinging to the strap of his bag. "Zoological park."  
  
"Chokozai!" Ebina hurried over exasperatedly, flashing her badge quickly and dragging the little man out from behind Teru. "Sorry, he gets like this when something's bothering him, we'll be out of your way in just a second--"  
  
"Zoological!" Chokozai turned around, dragging Ebina in circles as he tried to pull free.  
  
Miyako looked bemused at the scene before her. "That sounds a bit like Teru. Why don't you just ask him what's wrong?"  
  
"Believe me, that's-- easier said than-- done--" Ebina let go, staggering dizzily. "Usually it's some kind of clue to a clue to a clue that you can only figure out through weeks of research, only half the time it's in some weird code because creepy American spy training schools never do anything _normally_ \--"  
  
"Zoologi...? Wait a sec!" Sawa came up behind Ebina, plucking the little notebook out of her hand and flipping through it. "Ebina, this is one of the places on the list!"  
  
Ebina tried to grab the notebook back, but settled for clinging to Sawa's arm for balance. "Wait, then-- the suspect might attack here, too?"  
  
"Attack?" Miyako frowned, looking worried. "Why would someone attack a zoo?"  
  
"Everything becomes clear underwater," Chokozai chirped, still turning in circles. Ebina and Sawa glanced at each other. "Long story."  
  
"I'll go get the director," Miyako said, turning to go. "The gates aren't open yet, I'm sure we can stay closed for the day--"  
  
A car drove up slowly behind them, the driver glancing out the window as he approached. He widened his eyes as he caught sight of Ebina, and suddenly accelerated past, tires screeching on the asphalt.  
  
"That's him!" Ebina grabbed Chokozai's wrist, dragging him and Sawa away. Chokozai followed slowly, glancing back from the corner of his eye in Teru's direction.  
  
Miyako paused, and put a hand on Teru's shoulder. He seemed to be hesitating in indecision. "Teru, do you want to go with them? I'll be okay."  
  
Teru gripped the handlebars of his bike. "Miyako-chan will be okay," he repeated. He swung his leg over the bike and rode off after the three chasing the car.  
  
  
As to be expected of chasing a car on foot, the driver quickly managed to escape, though not before they'd reported the license plate number in for tracking. They collapsed at a picnic table in a nearby park, whereupon Chokozai immediately began to clamor for a hot dog.  
  
"Right, right," Ebina sighed, digging into Chokozai's bag; alongside the little bag of lettuce she'd stashed in there and Chokozai's endless bottles of ketchup and mustard, there happened to be exactly four hot dog breads. She glanced at Teru suspiciously as she placed the extra in front of him. "Are you happy with that, or do you also need lettuce in order to recognize it as food?"  
  
"Happy?" Teru looked at the hot dog, face clouding in confusion. Chokozai interrupted whatever train of thought this might have triggered by smothering his own hot dog in ketchup and mustard until it was hard to tell what the point of adding the lettuce had been. He set the bottles aside, picking up the monstrosity with a satisfied air. "This is a hot dog."  
  
Teru looked slowly from his own hot dog to the condiment bottles to the sticky mess Chokozai was taking a bite from, and then back to his own hot dog. He appeared to come to a conclusion, and reached for the ketchup.  
  
Ebina and Sawa turned away from the carnage, leaning their heads together. "We've got two of them now. What do we do?"  
  
"Maybe Teru-kun can do stuff like Chokozai? He could be helpful in solving the case."  
  
Sawa stroked his finger up the bridge of his nose as though pushing up a pair of glasses. "Somehow I don't think he's been trained to identify tire track patterns and bullet hole sizes at the local zoo."  
  
"Well, let's just look after him for now." Ebina took a decisive bite of her hot dog. "He can't be much harder to take care of than Chokozai, right?"   
  
"This is a hot dog," Teru announced. They glanced back to see him smile at his work, red and yellow smeared on his fingers and chin, before lifting it up to take a bite.  
  
They leaned towards each other again. "We'd better hurry before he turns _into_ Chokozai," Sawa murmured. Ebina nodded emphatically in agreement.  
  
  
"I'm afraid we've never seen him here," the cafe owner said, shaking her head at the blurry photo on Sawa's phone. He'd managed to get headquarters to send him a capture from the security footage, but so far no one at the locations the man had listed seemed to know who he was.   
  
"Dang!" Ebina frowned irritably at the list over her coffee. "There's only a few places left-- Burbecrombie Burch fashion shop, Shiseibo makeup salon, and the local community swimming pool."  
  
"Fashion shop? Makeup salon?" Sawa squinted at the list upside-down. "Aren't these kind of strange choices for a middle-aged guy? I mean, no offense to his personal preferences and all, but they sound more like places a middle-aged _woman_ would go."  
  
"And by the sound of it, he doesn't visit these places himself anyway..." Ebina leaned her chin on her hand thoughtfully.  
  
"Coffee takes one spoonful of sugar," Teru said, carefully measuring a single spoonful and stirring his coffee. Next to him, Chokozai was crouched at table level, peering at his cup as if it was an alien species. "One spoonful," he mumbled, poking the surface of the liquid with a fingertip. "One spoonful."  
  
"So maybe he's targeting places like that? There must be something they all have in common." Sawa reached over to scoop a spoonful of sugar into Chokozai's coffee. "There, one spoonful. Happy?"  
  
Chokozai blinked in astonishment as if the sugar had ladled itself into the cup. He reached for the cup with both hands, lifting it like a bowl. "One spoonful," he agreed, licking foam from his lips. "Not happy. Not here. Not here."  
  
"Huh?" Ebina stared at Chokozai. "You're not happy? Who's not here?"  
  
Chokozai finished off the coffee and thumped the cup down with a clatter. "Not here. Not here." He jabbed a finger at the notebook, smudging coffee down the list of places. "Not here. Not here. Not here. Not happy."  
  
"Someone's not at these places?" Sawa leaned over to look at the list again. "That's why the guy's going to attack them?"  
  
"Why is he going to attack them?" Teru set his cup down, looking at the table somewhere between it and the sugar. Ebina and Sawa both blinked at the sudden coherent question. "Er, because someone's not there...?"  
  
Teru looked unsatisfied by this answer. "Why is he going to _attack_ them?"  
  
Chokozai _hmm_ ed to himself, closing his hand and tapping against his cheek. He hummed again, pitch rising in agitation, and then suddenly stood and made a beeline for the exit.   
  
"Not _again_. Chokozai!" Ebina jumped up to give chase and toppled her coffee over, spilling the remainder across the table. "Ack! Chief, can you--?" She grabbed a wad of napkins, hastily mopping up the mess.  
  
" _You're_ the one who's supposed to be in charge of him," Sawa grumbled, but he ran a hand through his hair with what was probably supposed to dashing flair and took off after the tiny genius.  
  
Teru shifted his gaze to somewhere between his coffee cup and Ebina's overturned one. "Why is he going to attack them?"  
  
Ebina paused, napkins dripping. Why, indeed? Even Chokozai had never seemed to question the notion that human beings occasionally did horrible things to each other. "I don't know, Teru-kun. But that's what my job is, I find out why people do bad things and I stop them." She smiled, although Teru still wasn't quite looking at her, and tossed the napkins in the trash. "So we'd better go catch up with Chokozai to find out! Come on, let's go..."  
  
  
Chokozai's destination turned out to be the next location on the list, an upscale clothing shop in the fashionable part of town. Sawa glanced around at the racks of highly expensive women's clothes and decided that he was quite glad Ebina had zero interest in such things, even if it _was_ rather difficult to shop for someone whose interests revolved around justice, food, and more justice.   
  
Sure enough, Ebina rushed straight past the elegant displays, badge in hand and Teru trailing behind her. "Any luck?"  
  
Chokozai was standing in the middle of the store, fingers wiggling in the air as he looked this way and that. "Everything becomes clear underwater." Teru shifted his gaze slightly to focus on Chokozai's hand, and then stepped forward to stand next to him. "Everything becomes clear underwater," he repeated, mimicking the gesture with a finger-wiggle of his own.  
  
"Let's just go ask the clerk," Ebina sighed, grabbing Sawa's sleeve and dragging him towards the cashier. The attendant blinked politely as she flashed her badge and fished Sawa's phone out of his pocket. "Sir, have you ever seen this man before?"  
  
"Er, yes, in fact," the attendant replied. "He's actually right over--"  
  
"Ne, ne." Chokozai shuffled over to a customer in a hat pulled down low, Teru still wiggling his fingers as he followed, and tugged on the man's sleeve. "Ne, ne. Why?"  
  
Ebina glanced back as the man turned, and nearly dropped Sawa's phone. "It's him!"  
  
Before they could move, the man pulled out a gun and fired it at the ceiling. Customers screamed, dodging this way and that, knocking over racks of clothing as they fled. Ebina and Sawa were nearly swept up by the stampede, and by the time they fought their way through the man had disappeared-- only the gun was left, abandoned on the floor.  
  
Teru stared straight ahead, as if frozen in shock. "1903, Maurice Garin. 1904, Henri Cornet. 1905, Louis Trousselier. 1906, Rene Pottier--"  
  
Sawa frowned. "What's he saying?"  
  
Chokozai tugged a scarf from a toppled rack, draping it over Teru's shoulders with both hands. He shifted from one foot to the other, fingers fiddling in the air.  
  
"--1909, Francois Faber. 1910, Octave Lapize. 1911, Gustave Garrigou. 1912-- 1912-- 1912--"  
  
"Odile Defraye." Chokozai pulled the scarf away again, head turning from side to side. He dropped it and tugged a yellow one from the rack instead, wrapping it around Teru's neck. Teru blinked.  
  
"Odile Defraye." He slowly looked down at the scarf. "Odile Defraye."  
  
"Belgium." Chokozai tilted his head, fingers wiggling, and seemed satisfied this time. He shuffled over towards the abandoned gun.  
  
"1912, Odile Defraye. Belgium," Teru agreed, following him.  
  
Ebina rushed forward. "Chokozai, wait, don't handle it--" The little man crouched and picked up the gun, studying it intensely.  
  
"Daisy 415," he chirped. Ebina immediately whipped out her notebook and began writing.  
  
Chokozai dropped the gun, standing and turning in a circle. "J's."  
  
"J's?" Sawa picked his way through the fallen clothes, peering over Ebina's shoulder. "Some kind of store?"  
  
"J's Sporting Goods Are The Cheapest In Town," Teru said, still looking at the scarf.  
  
"J's," Chokozai repeated, shuffling quickly towards the door. "J's."  
  
Teru trailed after him, his back straight as he walked. "J's Sporting Goods is ten minutes by bicycle." The door swung shut behind them.  
  
Ebina glanced desperately between the gun and the door, and then thrust her notebook into Sawa's hands. "Here, look up Daisy 415 and whatever it's got to do with that gun--" She took off out the door, chasing after the two would-be crime solvers.  
  
Sawa blinked at the mess he was left standing in, and scratched his head sheepishly at the attendant peeking over the counter. "Sorry about that. Er-- do I want to know how much that scarf was?"  
  
  
For once fairly certain where Chokozai was headed, Ebina caught a taxi and made it there first. J's Sporting Goods turned out to be a large sports supply store, indeed boasting on its windows to be The Cheapest In Town-- but why would Chokozai suddenly be interested in sports?  
  
She turned at the sound of a bicycle coming around the corner; it was Teru, pedaling slowly, with Chokozai perched sideways on the back. They squeaked to a stop just as Ebina's phone rang.  
  
"It's Sawa. I just looked up the Daisy 415 thing-- _after_ I paid for that damn scarf, no flimsy piece of silk should ever cost _that much_ \--" Ebina could practically picture the indignation on Sawa's face. "--and anyway, it's not actually a real gun. Daisy 415's the model name for a BB gun."  
  
"A BB gun?" Ebina stared at Chokozai as he hopped off and shuffled up to her.   
  
"Daisy 415," he said, clutching the strap of his bag and turning from side to side as if to orient himself. "J's."  
  
The pieces clicked together in Ebina's brain, and she hung up on Sawa, clutching Chokozai's shoulders excitedly. "You're brilliant, Chokozai! If he bought the gun here, they'll have a record of it! Now we can find out who he is!"  
  
Although slightly apprehensive of Ebina's entourage, the clerk was indeed able to retrieve the customer's information. "Kanikawa Kazuma, purchased a Daisy 415 and pellets two days ago. Looks like he's a regular customer of ours, though not for airguns..." The clerk squinted at the screen. "Mostly-- women's swimwear?"  
  
"Kanikawa..." Where did that name ring a bell from? Ebina flipped her phone open and nearly dropped it when it started to ring before she could dial. It was Sawa again.  
  
"Chief, I've got the guy's name!" Ebina headed for the door, plowing ahead before Sawa could get a word in edgewise. "Kanikawa Kazuma-- check if he's in any of our files somewhere--"  
  
"Kanikawa? Wonder if he's related to that officer who..."  
  
Ebina paused in the doorway, Chokozai and Teru bumping into her from behind. "Kanikawa Kaori?" Officer Kanikawa had been one of the few other women in the department, still patrolling well into her forties-- until she'd passed away in a car accident on the job a year ago. "You don't think he's--"  
  
"I think we'll find out soon," Sawa replied, his voice serious. "They just spotted the car we reported. It's headed for the last location on the list."  
  
  
The community swimming pool was all but empty, a single, familiar car parked outside the entrance. Ebina cracked the door open cautiously, the smell of chlorine greeting her in a wave of warm air. She could just barely make out a figure near the other end of the pool.  
  
"Chokozai, Teru-kun, I think you should wait out--"  
  
"Everything becomes clear underwater," Chokozai chirped, and shuffled through the door. "Choko--" Ebina cut off as Teru pushed past her. "Cho-ko-zai," he mumbled, following after the older man.  
  
" _Aaugh_ \--" Ebina pressed a hand to her forehead, cursing whatever god had saw fit to surround her with mystery-solving savants with no sense of _danger_ , and rushed in after them.  
  
The man-- Kanikawa Kazuma-- stood at the far edge of the pool, wearing a heavy jacket despite the humid heat. "Who's-- oh, it's you." His initial surprise at their appearance slowly faded to a look of resigned sadness. "I'm sorry you had to get involved in this. I told you not to take it personally." He took a step closer to the pool, hands in his pockets. "She always came here after work, so it seemed like the most fitting choice."  
  
Chokozai paused, shuffling from foot to foot as though something had caught his attention. "Not here. Not happy."  
  
Ebina caught Chokozai's bag strap before he could do anything _more_ dangerous. "Kanikawa-san, right? It's okay, we understand why you're doing this, it's only natural to be upset when you lose a loved one--"  
  
"I didn't lose her!" Kanikawa interrupted angrily. "Kaori was _taken_ from me-- by that mess of corruption you call a _police department_!"  
  
"Huh?" The report Ebina had read ruled Officer's Kanikawa's death an accident, a collision while chasing after a car thief... Though Ebina knew from long experience that you couldn't always trust the reports. "You think someone in the police killed her?"  
  
Kanikawa looked down at the water in front of him. "She worked there for fifteen years, you know? And not once did they ever give her a raise or promotion. She said she was going ask, just this once..." He glanced at Ebina sharply. "How can you work for such corrupt people?"  
  
Chokozai twisted, trying pull his bag out of Ebina's grasp. "Underwater, underwater."  
  
"It's-- it's true some of them are cowards-- or lazy-- or just plain selfish--" Ebina clung on tightly, digging in her heels. "But they're passionate when it comes down to serving justice. Underneath it all, they want to find out the truth, just like me."  
  
"Why people do bad things," Teru hovered next to Chokozai, tugging at his scarf. He seemed to be staring at Chokozai's feet.  
  
Kanikawa shook his head slowly. "No, I know what happens to people who stand up for themselves. You'd best save yourself while you still can, miss." He stepped up to the very edge of the pool, gazing down at the water again. "I'm afraid I didn't leave much time. But maybe it's just as well, if all you have to look forward to is the same fate as Kaori."  
  
"Didn't leave much...?" Ebina stared wildly as the man pulled a switch out of his pocket. He pressed it, and with an oddly relieved smile, fell forward into the water.  
  
Chokozai tore away, shuffling to the edge of the pool agitatedly. "Underwater, underwater--"  
  
Ebina rushed over, staring down into the water-- the man had sunk like a stone, as if weighed down-- and there, at the bottom of the pool--   
  
The door burst open, and Sawa came running in, skidding on the tiled floor. "Ebina! Where is he?!"  
  
"It's a bomb! He just pressed the switch!" Ebina looked back at Sawa desperately. "We've got to get out-- we've got to get _him_ out--"  
  
Chokozai paced the edge in increasing distress, voice rising, fingers digging into the strap of his bag as if fighting with himself. "Underwater, underwater, _underwater_ \--"  
  
There was a flash of yellow, followed by a loud splash.  
  
"Teru-kun!" Ebina and Sawa both pulled off their jackets, ready to dive in after the yellow-vested man. Through the water, they could see him blinking at the scene before him, carried by the momentum of his dive to the bottom of the pool--  
  
\--and maybe, for a moment, everything _did_ become clear underwater. Teru hooked his arms under Kanikawa's shoulders and kicked towards the surface, dragging him up and away from the bomb. They emerged from the water, Teru's vest acting like a life jacket as he clung to the unconscious man, and Ebina and Sawa hurriedly hauled them out, grabbing Chokozai and making a break for the exit.  
  
They were just in time-- seconds after they dived into the parking lot, the building rocked with a massive explosion, windows shattering, smoke and steam pouring out of the entrance. Sawa rolled Kanikawa onto his side, water spilling from the man's mouth, and then onto his back on the asphalt, yanking open the weighted-down jacket and listening for breathing. Ebina stared for a dazed second before training kicked in, and grabbed her phone to call for an ambulance.  
  
Kanikawa coughed, sputtering up more water and other, less pleasant liquids. He took a shuddering breath and squinted blearily up at Ebina. "Ka...ori?"  
  
Chokozai crawled over, joining a soaked Teru in gazing down at the half-drowned man. "Not... not here," he said, reaching out one closed hand to brush Kanikawa's chest. "Here. Happy."   
  
Teru blinked at Chokozai's hand, lips moving in the shape of the word.  
  
Kanikawa slowly lifted a hand to his chest, staring at Chokozai. "... _Happy_." He smiled faintly, and then closed his eyes and began to cry.  
  
  
"So in the end he wanted to take revenge for his wife's death, in hopes that it might call attention to it somehow." Ebina closed the door to the hospital room, joining Sawa, Chokozai, and Teru in the hallway. "The first attack was meant as a warning, just like the letter-- to try to... _save_ me from the same fate as Officer Kanikawa."  
  
"By killing you himself, huh?" Sawa threw a glare at the door, then shook his head with a sigh. "At any rate, we'll see to it he gets counseling before they try him for anything. Locking him away in this state'll only prove him right."  
  
Chokozai shuffled in a circle around them, Teru following with his hair sticking up from a vigorous toweling-off. "Not happy."  
  
"Right," Ebina agreed, shaking out her disheveled ponytail and promptly putting it up again. "And we're going to look into Officer Kanikawa's files as soon as we get back to the station. He deserves to know the truth."  
  
"Officer Kanikawa's-- you're going to reopen _another_ case?" Sawa rubbed his temples in exasperation. "He tried to _kill_ you! _And_ me!"  
  
"You said yourself, no one changes without a great deal of incentive." Ebina flashed Sawa an innocent smile. "Don't tell me you're not interested in _justice_ , after all this time?"  
  
Teru perked, tugging at his scarf. "That's what my job is," he quoted, smiling at Chokozai's hood.  
  
Sawa sputtered, trying to smooth back his hair and gesture in protest at the same time. "Of course I am! Just--" He caught Ebina's eye, and sighed again, this time in what might have been fond resignation. "Just don't go getting yourself in trouble without me, alright?"  
  
Chokozai stopped circling abruptly, Teru bumping into him from behind. " _Mission accomplished_ ," he said, and took off down the hallway in the direction of the hospital cafeteria. "Please give me curry soup." Teru wandered after him, still smiling at Chokozai's hood. "Mission... Curry?"  
  
"Great! We'll start after dinner!" Ebina grinned obliviously at Sawa and turned to hurry after their mystery-solving companions. "Wait up, you guys! No one's having curry without _me_ around!"  
  
Sawa watched her go, marching ahead with all the courage and determination the department so often lacked. "A great deal of incentive, huh?" He gave Kanikawa's door one last glance, and then smiled, turning to follow Ebina down the hall. "Oi, wait up! You'd better save some curry for me, too!"  
  
  
Epilogue:  
  
"Curry has to be chicken curry."  
  
"Please give me curry soup."  
  
"Curry has to be chicken curry."  
  
"Please give me curry soup."  
  
"Curry has to be chicken curry."  
  
"..." Chokozai stared at the yellow scarf around Teru's neck for a long moment. "... _Update shimashita._ "  
  
"Huh?!" Ebina paused in mid-slurp, looking up from her curry udon in shock. Across from her, Sawa stared in disbelief, spoon halfway to his mouth.  
  
Chokozai turned, and tugged on Ebina's sleeve. "Ne, ne," he said, and for a moment they could have sworn they saw a faint smile on the man's face. "Please give me chicken curry."


End file.
